


The struggle of daily live

by orphan_account



Category: Children of the Lamp - P. B. Kerr
Genre: F/M, New York, Promises, Rain, Three Wishes, bad djinns, good djinns, pissed Iblis, the balance between fortune and misfortune, the ususal you know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-22
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-08 15:43:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3214598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iblis the Ifrit is not dead. He is just really, really angry after the disaster with the Donxi.<br/>And he can´t use his powers thanks to a bond from the blue djinn, Faustina and therefor caught a cold in the autumn weather in New York.<br/>His mood is not getting better as a young girl safes him from being rolled over by a cab.<br/>He really does not have the time to listen to the stupid wishes of a Teenager!<br/>He can not satisfay them anyway!<br/>Or can he?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MadameReveuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameReveuse/gifts).



Iblis state of mind could be described, in extremely careful and sympathetic words, as cloudy.  
He pulled his windbreaker tighter around his chest and wiped the water from his face.  
Around him the New York-morning traffic flooded on regardless; steadily, bad-tempered and unstoppable.  
He hated this town. he hated it with all of his anyway black soul.  
People jostled him as they passed by and threw angry glances at him and a passing car produced a big wave of dirty water, spilling high on his legs when he stopped at a red light.  
The driver did not hear his curses.  
It was questionable whether he would´ve even understood that he was insulted on ancient Egyptian as "miserable Philistine" and "rats ass".  
It was pelting down with rain.  
The drops drummed on roofs, attics and umbrellas like a thousand fingers, as if they were craving for inlet to rinse away the whole city.  
The sewerage choked out again what people had thrown in and would have rather forgotten and you could see how it was washed down the streets with the usual big city garbage.  
Iblis would not have been surprised if he had seen a crocodile.  
He looked into the clouded sky and had the vague feeling that the weather would probably not improve in the coming days.  
And the very fact that he, Iblis the Ifrit, had to worry about the _weather_ let the water in his collar evaporate.  
At least almost.  
New came quickly after.  
He sneezed and pulled up the nose.  
He never had a cold before and was now forced to visit for the first time in his life, a pharmacy, what did not raised his mood.  
Iblis cursed Faustina, the blue djinn for having condemned him.  
He cursed his frightened sons and brothers to have not challenged the verdict.  
And most of all he cursed Nimrod.  
This lacquered, red wearing dandy but had actually had the audacity, for him, _for him_ , Iblis, to bail, and to ask for reduced sentences!  
Knew the man no decency?  
Had he never heard of dignity?  
Or was he simply much crueler than Iblis would have thought it possible?  
The Ifrit vowed when he got finally rid of that stupid djinn bond, he would make them all pay, one by one.  
And for Nimrod he would come up with something special.  
Deep in gloomy thoughts he splashed through the puddles along the road and did not pay attention to the road.  
Which is, in fact, whether you are a human being or a djinn, never a good idea.  
And especially not, if you are a djinn under a powerful punishment spell.  
As Iblis saw the approaching yellow cab and noticed that it was moving in his direction, he immediately tried to use his focus word and turn into smoke.  
He didn´t thought about his action. It was clear that the car was moving way to fast to avoid it. Using his focus word is the first thing that comes to the mind of every djinn when in a dangerous situation and so to Iblis. But it did not worked.  
Instead a sharp white pain was spreading in his chest starting from the point under his right collarbone where Faustina fixed the spell and it dawned on him. He remembered being told, that saying his focus word would led instantly and without delay to great pain and paralysis of the whole body for at least one minute. "In case of repeated violations of the constraints, the period of time will extend, of course." The blue djinn herself had said and had pierced him with her steel eyes. "Do the defendant agrees?" He had gritted his teeth and nodded, thinking about how to kill them all very slowly.  
Iblis gasped, doubled over and landed with the face in the water, unable to move.  
He realized that the car was clearly not able to stop in time.  
"Great. Just great." he thought. If he would have been able to, he would have laughed. It was something ironically about the situation. Killed by a cab, driven by a mundane, in the mundane city he hated the most in the world with the face in mundane garbage.  
The wheels came nearer, screeching an searching for hold on the wet asphalt, the headlights shone in his face.  
He closed his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nr. 2 :)  
> Yesterday I asked my crush whether he would like to go to the cinema with me.  
> I got extremely red and I stuttered in the process.  
> In addition to that I did not wore any make up and my hair was a complete mess.  
> Surprisingly he said that he would call me.  
> ...  
> ...  
> Unfortunately, he hasn´t got my number.  
> The only way to get it, is asking my ex friend (and his bank neighbor and friend) for it.  
> Soo...  
> I feel like a complete idiot.  
> And like a complete bitch.  
> But the bitch is predominant. -_-

And noticed in the same moment a strong grip around his ankle and someone pulling him by his legs out of the danger zone.  
Just in the right moment.  
The car came to a halt right there, where seconds before his head had lain.  
“I think he has fainted! Can somebody please help me?” It was a female voice coming from behind him.  
He heard the driver door of the taxi open and saw a pair of brown loafers appearing in his field of view. “Jesus!” This must be the driver. “Jesus! Did something happen to him?”  
Another shoe pair, shabby-looking sneakers, joined the brown loafers. “No, I don´t think so. Sir? Can you hear me?” The female said and, according to the sounds, dropped on her knees beside him.  
He was turned onto his back.  
Please.  
Please, don´t let them think that he was in need of a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!  
“What was he thinking? Simply run onto the road! Completely mindless!” the driver muttered.  
“Can you hear me, Sir?” his savoir repeated.  
Her eyes carried a worried glance and had exactly the same colour as the stormy sky behind her head. They were big and round, a little bit like puppy eyes.  
He hated puppies.  
Soft blond curls hung into her face and stuck to her forehead.  
They framed a round face with a straight nose and small mouth with full lips.  
He felt instantly reminded of one of these little fat angels always to be seen on old paintings.  
He hated them.  
A Yankees cap was askew on her head.  
Unnecessary to say, that he hated the Yankees too.  
Iblis saw this young woman for the first time and decided that there was absolutely nothing he liked about her.  
Luckily, he felt his legs again and therefor was able to move away.  
“I´m fine.” He sneered and wrenched his hand out of her grasp.  
As the cabbie was sure that he would not have to report something unpleasant to his chief, he tipped his head and drove away, still shaking his head about the stupidity of some persons.  
“Oh, thank god!” The girl laughed. “I was worried.” Her clothes looked cheap and worn-out and, like Iblis, she was completely soaked thanks to her bath in the wastewater flow along the street.  
Iblis glared angrily at her.  
Was she send by hell?  
A demon, hatched in the innermost circle to make this day the worst of his live?  
Whether she was human or not: It was how it is.  
She saved his life.  
“You saved my life…” he said, sounding like the girl was personally responsible for his misery.  
She looked surprised at him, her eyes even rounder than just now.  
Then she laughed.  
“Yeah” she said “Kinda.” And lifted herself up. “My name´s Polly, Sir.” The girl reached out for his hand but he ignored it and stood up himself, trying to rearrange his clothing.  
“Iblis Teer, leader of the tribe of the Ifrit.” And continued, after a pause, with visible effort:  
“With great gratitude for saving my life and in order of the tradition of djinns and by fulfilling the legislation of the great blue djinn of Babylon, blessed be her name, I will grand you three wishes.  
Say whatever you like, and it will happen.”  
Silence settled between them.  
He waited.  
The rain felt down, the traffic flooded on and they still stood in the muddy river next to the sidewalk.  
After what seemed like an eternity the girl, Polly, finally said something.  
“Are you sure, that everything is fine, Sir?” She looked at him, her head slightly tilted, her face full of unspoken doubts.  
He sneezed again.  
“I think I´ve caught a cold or something like that, but thank you for asking.”  
"Do...Do you feel hot or something?"  
"No, that´s my normal temperature" He barely prevented her from touching his forehead.  
The girl kept loking at him with this concerned face and he had to pull his act together to keep himself from groaning loudly.  
Good gods! She was clearly human.  
The sky was still cloudy and the rain reached a new intensity.  
Someone up there clearly did not liked him.


	3. The first wish

“By the oil of my lamp!” He leaned back, moaning and massaging his temple.  
“You keep saying that a lot, Mr. Teer. Is there something special about your lamp?” The girl watched him, taking a gulp from her chocolate.  
“It is a bedroom inside. And a library.” He tried to smile sarcastically but it turned out as a snarl.  
Polly considered his sentence for a moment.  
“And then there is oil inside?” she asked.  
They sat inside a café in the near of the street where they had met, he with a black coffee and the girl with a hot chocolate and a doughnut.  
He had tried to explain.  
However, it would have been far easier with him being able to use his powers.  
She clearly did not believed him, but was very polite by saying so.  
In fact, she didn´t said it at all but handled him like someone who has escaped from an asylum.  
Friendly.  
Politely.  
Taking everything what he said serious and at the same time not serious at all.  
And waiting for the doctors to arrive.  
It made him simply furious.  
“Look, …Polly. Say I was lying, why are you still sitting here?” he asked, forearms crossed before his chest.  
She shrugged. “I have not eaten my doughnut yet. And you seem like a nice person. There are a lot of different people in this town. My uncle believed to be the sacred Hieronymus, but he is quiet harmless.”  
Iblis murderous intents concerning the sudden end of his conversation partner was prevented by another violent sneezing attack.  
His vision got blurry and he collapsed exhausted in his chair.  
Damn, nobody told him that a head cold was so annoying!  
He felt tired and had suddenly no longer the strength to argue with the girl.  
“I do not believe to be a saint.” he said weakly.  
The irony in these words felt on him later.  
“Say you are not lying, Mr. Teer. And you were…a djinn. With three wishes, almighty power and stuff… Why don´t you just prove it by…for example, by letting this doughnut disappear?”  
He glared at her. “As I said…” He opened the first two buttons of his shirt and showed her the seal.  
“I am ... indisposed. And I believe you’re doing quite a good job with the doughnut on your own.”  
“It looks like a barcode…”  
Iblis sighed.  
“But apart from that, it does not prove anything.” Polly bit in the doughnut. “Could just be a fancy barcode-looking tattoo.”  
“It is a powerful djinn bond!”  
She tilted her head.  
“If your powers are banned under this seal, how will you grant wishes?”  
“That´s the main problem.” _“Apart from being forced to live like a mundane.”_ he thought.  
They felt silent.  
Droplets ran down the windows of the café.  
The girl drank the last swallow from her chocolate and stood up.  
He looked up at her, questioning.  
“I´m sorry, Mr. Teer, but I´m afraid I must go now. It´s almost nine and I don´t want to get late for English class. It was a pleasure to meet you.” She smiled and reached her hand out.  
Iblis eyed it.  
Then took a sip from his coffee and continued to stare out of the window.  
Three shapes, apparently two young man and a girl had appeared before the café and stood under the small awning. They smoked and talked to each other.  
Polly’s smile got a little strained.  
Instead of shaking his hand, she just waved and headed for the door.  
Then she noticed the three on the sidewalk.  
She froze.  
And made a few steps back until she stood again next to Iblis´s table.  
He arched an eyebrow and tried to read her expression.  
Her face looked frightened.  
Iblis was fast by connecting the dots. A small smile pulled the corners of his mouth up.  
“Friends of you?” His voice automatically had dropped to a lower level. He could sense the sudden tense in the girl´s attitude, her fear.  
“Not really.” she whispered.  
He was an Ifrit.  
He lived for the grief and pain of other people.  
It was long ago that he had so much fun just by watching a person.  
“Are they... bullying you, or something like that?”  
She shot him a glance. “Please, just act casual, Mr. Teer!" She laughed nervously and went on to watch the three on the other side of the window. They were just in the process of lighting another cigarette.  
Suddenly the girl turned around and noticed, fag between her lips and lighter on half way up, the other girl staring at her.  
She was tall and slim with long auburn hair and she wore an expensive looking rain coat.  
She first looked surprised, but then grinned and said something to her companions.  
They nodded.  
A moment after that the doorbell ranged and they began to make their way up to the table where Iblis was still sitting.  
Polly felt heavily back on her seat, her back turned on the newcomers and head down.  
Her jaw was working.  
Iblis watched and drank his coffee.  
The girl arrived first at her side and dropped down beside her. The boys took two chairs from the table next to them and seated themselves also.  
“Honey, what ya doin´here?” The girl said pulling Polly in a half embrace.  
“Hello, Ariana.” she said, sounding resigned.  
“Can you introduce us to your friend, my dear? I´ve never seen him before.”  
Ariana looked at Iblis with a smile that was not even in the near of real.  
She let her gaze slide over his appearance; the leather boots, the jeans and the black windbreaker, the still damp grey hair and his goatee.  
Her eyes said: _“Fuck off, grandpa!”_  
Iblis smiled back.  
One could hear icicles clinking.  
_“I've been terrorizing people at a time where you have still been in diapers, you shitty little trainee.”_ he thought, eyes narrowing.  
“I´m not a friend of her.” he said. “We just met.”  
“Oh!” Ariana got it down pretty good to look utterly shocked. “Polly, what would your mother say? Hanging out with unfamiliar guys on coffee shops…”  
Polly muttered something.  
“What did you say, sweetheart?” Ariana leaned over to Polly and put a hand to her ear. “Could you please speak up, dear?”  
The other girl turned to her with clenched fists. “I said: I wish you to leave me alone!” she managed to say trough gritted teeth.  
Ariana’s eyes narrowed.  
“School´s about to start, sweetheart. We should go now.” The next sentence was directed to Iblis.  
“We are kidnapping your date now, Sir. Terrible sorry for that.”  
“I don´t mind, young lady. Good bye.”  
Polly’s expression as she stood up and was forced to go between the two tall boys was unreadable.  
But Iblis could clearly sense her disappointment and her sadness.  
Clearly, she felt betrayed by him in some way only humans could understand.  
But who was he that he would care?  
He watched them leaving the café.  
_I wish you to leave me alone._ The sentence somehow did repeat itself in his head, making a little bell furiously ring.  
…  
Damn.  
He sighed as it dawned on him.  
She had wished for something.


End file.
